Matthew Wayne Shepard was born on December 1, 1976 in Casper, Wyoming. He was raised alongside his younger brother Logan, by his parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard. He attended many different colleges before finally settling in at the University if Wyoming. He was described as passionate, optimistic, and approachable. He strived for equality and according to his father, "...the acceptance of people's differences."
On October 6th, 1998 he was brutally tortured by Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson who tied him to a fence and left him to die. He was later found by Aaron Kreifels who initially believed he had found a scarecrow. Shepard was taken to a hospital in Wyoming where his injuries were assessed and deemed untreatable. He was then transported to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado where he remained in a coma. He never regained consciousness. Matthew Wayne Shepard's life ended on October 12th, 1998 at the age of 21.
Shepard's death sparked a nation-wide debate about hate-crimes against homosexuals. Unfortunately, his home state of Wyoming continues to refuse hate crime, same-sex, and anti-discrimination laws in order to protect the LGBT community. "In 2009...a federal vision, known as the Matthew Shepard Act, was signed into law by President Obama" (TheGuardian.com 1). The Matthew Shepard Act (Also known as the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, after James Byrd Jr. who was dragged for three miles behind a pick-up truck by three supremacists ) "...expands the federal definition of hate crimes to include assaults based on sexual orientation, gender, disability or gender identity" (About.Com 1). Before the act, hate crime laws were limited only to religion, race, national origin or color.
Though Matthew Shepard's life was short, it had meaning. Even his untimely death impacted our society and the LGBT community in a positive way. Though the fact that he had to die in order for something to be done is completely preposterous, in a way it had a positive outcome.